Looked After Children event (March 16) Best Practice event resources and evaluation

This CAMHs best practice session focusing on Looked After Children was held on 18^th March 2016 (Oxford) and delegates heard from an excellent range of speakers .

Details and resources can be found here:   (N.B. some presentations are not included at the request of our speakers)

• Looked After Children – Who are they? Statutory requirements and where are they based? MacKenzie/Gregory
• Systemic considerations for professionals working with children in care – Hindley / Supplementary info for TVSCN meeting – Hindley
• Looked After Children and Attachment – Godley
• Buckinghamshire Virtual School – overview of educational barriers – Todd
• Milton Keynes; Audit Results – Chilvers/Kamara i)

Evaluation

In total 83 people registered for the event of which 44 (53%) gave us feedback which was extremely positive.  Respondents indicated that they found all aspects of the day relevant and informative; they found the foster carer perspective particularly enlightening. Attendees also said that they had found it useful to hear about attachment patterns in  looked after children, systematic considerations for professionals working with children in care, the barriers facing children in care in relation to education and the role of the virtual school, plus an overview from the LAC designated nurse perspective.  People also found it useful to gain an insight into the evidence and statistical information available as well as having the opportunity to network with colleagues who are working elsewhere in the system.

The main themes of the feedback were:

·         77% of respondents said that they found the foster carer perspective particularly enlightening

·         68% of respondents were interested to hear about attachment patterns in looked after children

·         60% of respondents said that they found it useful to hear about the systematic considerations for professionals working with children in care

·         41% of respondents were interested to hear about barriers facing children in care in relation to education and the role of the virtual school ·         29% of respondents were interested to hear the Looked After Children (LAC) nurse perspective

When asked what aspects of CAMHS and Looked After Children people felt it would also have been helpful to cover, suggestions received were as follows: ·           the effect of pre-birth neglect and breaking cycles of neglect ·           service users and care leavers perspective ·           schools involvement and multi-agency/partnership working with CAMHS ·           the application and modification of evidence-based therapeutics ·           social care input ·           service availability across Thames Valley and how to access ·           police input ·           mental health issues and interventions/support/treatment available and strategies for improving mental health for LAC   Delegates indicated that they would also be interested in the following: ·           Training events 89% ·           National updates 45% ·           Website resources 61% ·           Guidelines 39%